TIGTA: Use Credit Reports to Locate Taxpayer's New Addresses

Found in a Treasury Inspector General audit report: Locator services could be used to find current addresses during correspondence examinations We believe that

Message 1 of 3
, Jan 3, 2013

Found in a Treasury Inspector General audit report:

Locator services could be used to find current addresses during correspondence examinations

We believe that it is reasonable to assume that one technique taxpayers use to avoid meeting their Federal tax obligations is to change residences and not leave forwarding addresses. However, if they are using credit to make purchases, their personal information is recorded, maintained, and made available commercially by credit bureaus through locator services.Unlike the IRS Master Fileon which taxpayer addresses are not always current, the addresses in locator services are constantly updated. As a result, locator services are an important component of the IRS collection process and are routinely used and relied upon to find taxpayers and their assets in collecting delinquent taxes owed.

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lg900df@rock.com

Correct! They have no authority to pry, so they do what government always does Get someone else to do their dirty work. My suspicion is Experian is the major

Message 2 of 3
, Jan 6, 2013

Correct! They have no authority to pry, so they do what government
always does "Get someone else to do their dirty work."

My suspicion is Experian is the major provider of information.

The IRS DOES use Credit Reporting Agencies. A meeting with an IRS
revenue officer confirmed that certain aspects of what he was saying
could only come from a credit report.

Often people get a very nice and cordial letter from the IRS asking
to confirm their address. They don't have the ability to place you at
a residence or within their service--only you can do that by either
filing something or telling them your address as a taxpayer.

Years ago I investigated credit reporting agency files for
correcting reports like those erroneous entries under Notice of
Federal Tax Liens. They were very easy to remove from Transunion and
Equifax. All letters though to Experian--even those to chief legal
counsel or president--ended up on one woman's desk who shot back
basically "Take it up with the IRS." I became suspicious at that time
of some kind of connection whereby the IRS was a client.

Years later I read where several Californian governments used
Experian. Knowing California taxation is very close to the feds, I
connected the dots.

Locator services could be used to find current addresses during
correspondence examinations

Roger Hattman

Often feds will typically send out a benign letter to whatever address (or addresses) they find via credit and wait to see if it comes back. I believe that

Message 3 of 3
, Jan 7, 2013

Often feds will typically send out a benign letter to whatever address (or addresses) they find via credit and wait to see if it comes back. I believe that merely accepting the mail is enough.

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Often people get a very nice and cordial letter from the IRS asking to confirm their address. They don't have the ability to place you at a residence or within their service--only you can do that by either filing something or telling them your address as a taxpayer.

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